Data is a big concern of the draft National e-Commerce Policy. Who controls the personal data that large e-com companies have come to access, can they exploit it, can such data be in non-Indian hands – all these questions have come into focus of the draft policy. And it has proposed setting up of a […]

China Telecom and Tata Communications come together on the Internet of Things (IoT) offering in the Chinese market, Mumbai-based group’s company in a statement Wednesday said. The partnership, according to it, would allow companies to deploy and manage IoT devices easily and cost-effectively within China and internationally across multiple industries, including consumer and industrial electronics […]

Google made a major announcement at the Games Developers Conference 2019 (GDC) by introducing its venture into the gaming industry. Nearly in line with what the speculations had been, Google launched Stadia, its new cloud-based gaming platform that relies on Chrome OS and Google servers to process memory-intensive files. Not only Google Stadia runs on […]

A US court in the state of California has dismissed lawsuit against Apple and Infosys over allegations that it abused the visa system to save money. The California federal judge nixed a whistleblower’s suit accusing Apple of bringing two trainers from India into the country using B-1 visas instead of the necessary and more expensive […]

The Indian Premier League (IPL) continues to be a magnet for brands to reach out to their consumers even as the TV broadcast industry is in the midst of its biggest change ever. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) new regulatory framework, which puts the power of choosing channels in the hands of the […]

DTH ops added just 80,000 net pay active subs in Q2 FY19: TRAI

The five pay direct to home (DTH) operators added just 80,000 net pay active subscribers in the July to September quarter compared to the April-June quarter, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) performance indicator report for Q2 FY19.

As on 30th September, the five pay DTH platforms attained net pay active subscriber base of around 69.45 million compared to 69.37 million in the trailing quarter ended 31 July.

It is pertinent to note that Dish TV and Airtel Digital TV had reported the addition of 200,000 and 133,000 net subscribers respectively in Q2 FY19. Dish TV is a listed company while Airtel Digital TV’s numbers are reported by its listed parent company Bharti Airtel.

Comparatively, the five DTH platforms had added 1.84 million net active pay subscribers during the April-June quarter of 2018.

During the quarter, Dish TV India’s market share fell by a percentage point to 41% compared to 42% a quarter ago. Airtel Digital TV’s market share increased by a percentage point to 22% from 21%. Tata Sky, Sun Direct, and Reliance Digital TV’s market share remained unchanged at 25%, 11%, and 1% respectively.

Apart from the five DTH operators, Doordarshan also operates free DTH platform called DD Free Dish which has an estimated 30 million customers.

During the quarter ending 30th September, the number of pay channels increased to 313 from 309 in the trailing quarter. The 313 pay channels were reported by 49 broadcasters. The 313 pay channels include 216 SD channels and 97 HD channels.

During the quarter, three new pay channels were reported and one free to air (FTA) channel namely NDTV India was converted into pay channel. The three new pay channels reported during the quarter include Travel XP, Sony Marathi, and Colors Kannada Cinema. Further, United Home Entertainment was merged with Disney Broadcasting India.

There are 350 operational private FM Radio stations in 95 cities with operational 33 Private FM Radio broadcaster as compared to 328 private FM Radio Stations in 86 cities with operational 34 FM Radio broadcasters in the previous quarter.

During the quarter, one FM radio operator namely Syntech Informatics shut down the transmission/operation of its single FM Radio station at Siliguri. Further, 23 new private FM Radio Stations have become operational.

The reported advertisement revenue during the quarter of 349 private FM Radio stations is Rs. 546.83 crore as against Rs. 509.33 crore in respect of 327 private FM Radio stations for the previous quarter. One FM Radio Broadcaster, Gwalior Firm, operating in the city of Guwahati, has not submitted the advertisement revenue.

A total of 851 private satellite TV channels have been permitted by the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) for uplinking only/downlinking only/uplinking and downloading both, as on 30th September.

Data is a big concern of the draft National e-Commerce Policy. Who controls the personal data that large e-com companies have come to access, can they exploit it, can such data be in non-Indian hands – all these questions have come into focus of the draft policy. And it has proposed setting up of a […]